This August, representatives from Shaktoolik completed a strategic management plan to protect their community from erosion and violent storms.

The plan lists nine critical actions, including replacing the health clinic, reinforcing the berm, and building an evacuation center. All of these critical actions are part of the village’s larger goal of remaining at their current site, rather than relocating.

“Yes, we will stay and defend,” said Kirby Sookiayak, the community coordinator for the Native Village of Shaktoolik. “We’re going to take on those storms. We’re going to do what’s necessary to stay here.”

Sookiayak is a member of the working group that has been drafting the management plan in Shaktoolik and Anchorage since May 2015. He supports the plan because he says the storms these past few years have felt more dangerous than ever before.

“I’ve seen logs thrown up in the air from my house,” said Sookiayak. “When you see some big logs being thrown up in the air by these storms, it’s frightening to some people here in Shaktoolik. I’ve seen houses that have been boarded up, because they don’t want the logs to break their windows.”

Sookiayak believes it is impossible to understand the strength of the storms without witnessing them firsthand. He has hosted visitors from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the Denali Commission, but he encourages more state officials to visit.

“We want people in high places to come down and see what we go through, because we’re the only ones that are living here,” he said. “And they’ll have an idea, ‘Well, what can we do to help these people?’”

Currently, Shaktoolik does not have sufficient funds to complete the proposed projects. Sookiayak hopes that help will come in the form of state and federal funding.

]]>http://www.knom.org/wp/blog/2016/09/23/shaktoolik-plans-to-stay-and-defend-current-location/feed/125174Earliest Snowmelt on Record in Barrowhttp://www.knom.org/wp/blog/2016/05/26/earliest-snowmelt-on-record-in-barrow/
Thu, 26 May 2016 16:08:43 +0000http://www.knom.org/wp/?p=23014The NOAA’s Observatory in Barrow reported a snowmelt staring on May 13, 10 days earlier than the previous record set in 2002.]]>

Snow in the northernmost town in the nation is melting earlier than ever before on record.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Observatory in Barrow reported a snowmelt staring on May 13. That’s 10 days earlier than the previous record set in 2002. NOAA has been recording snowmelt from its Barrow Observatory for over 70 years.

The record melt follows a winter of record-setting temperatures. Alaska was more than 11 degrees warmer that normal this winter.

An intensely warm winter and spring are melting climate records across Alaska. The January-April 2016 period was an incredible 11 degrees above normal, setting the stage for a potentially unprecedented summer. Photo: NOAA

This winter didn’t just see an early melt on land. According to the National Snow and Ice Data Center, 2016 also saw the lowest winter sea ice extent in satellite history.

David Douglas, a research biologist with the U.S. Geological Survey, said in a NOAA press release that conditions in the Arctic are looking more like they would in late June or early July right now.

The early thaw is already taking a toll on wildlife in the far north.

“Polar bears are having to make their decisions about how to move and where to go on thinner ice pack that’s mostly first-year ice,” Douglas said. Douglas also expects walrus to struggle this summer with the thinner sea ice and warmer temperatures.

]]>23014Satellite Used to Record Sea Ice Data Malfunctionshttp://www.knom.org/wp/blog/2016/05/17/satellite-used-to-record-sea-ice-data-malfunctions/
Tue, 17 May 2016 15:00:10 +0000http://www.knom.org/wp/?p=22930The satellite used to record sea ice data in the Arctic malfunctioned in April, and scientists are scrambling to calibrate a month of missing data. ]]>

The satellite used to record sea ice data in the Arctic malfunctioned in April, and scientists are scrambling to calibrate a month of missing data.

In mid-March, the National Snow and Ice Data Center reported the lowest maximum sea ice extent in satellite history.

“It was a record low in our satellite record, which is quite consistent,” explained NSIDC lead scientist Ted Scambos. “We work on it a lot to make sure we can compare it, one year to the next.”

NSIDC first started recording sea ice data in 1978.

Julienne Stroeve is an NSIDC scientist who studies sea ice conditions in the Arctic. Stroeve said she and her fellow scientists noticed a glitch in their data in early April.

“We started getting false ice concentrations in parts of the Arctic where you wouldn’t have sea ice,” Stroeve explained, “so it was biasing our extent.”

“The good news is they’ve found another satellite in that same type of series,” confirmedAmy Holman with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. “They believe the data is compatible enough that we can continue the data record,” Holman said.

The satellite Holman is referring to has been recording sea ice data for a year now, which Julienne Stroeve said should be enough time to cross-calibrate. Consistency is key, Stroeve said.

“You want as long of a data record as possible to really see how much this change we’re seeing is due to natural climate variability, for example, or how much is due to anthropogenic warming.”

Arctic sea ice extent for March 2016 was 14.43 million square kilometers (5.57 million square miles). The magenta line shows the 1981 to 2010 median extent for that month. Photo: National Snow & Ice Data Center

To help make that distinction, NSIDC captures an image of sea ice extent in the Arctic every day and posts daily updates online. The agency has since suspended the updates and removed all of April’s data from NSIDC’s archives.

While the malfunction was a bit of a shock, Stroeve said it was bound to happen.

“It wasn’t surprising that this happened, because the satellite was pretty old,” Stroeve said, “so eventually the sensors do degrade and start giving bad data.”

The satellite that malfunctioned was launched ten years ago. The one they’re relying on now was launched nine years ago. Stroeve said there is a backup to this backup, but that one is still on the ground.

“Congress took away the funds for the Air Force to launch it, which is very unfortunate,” Stroeve said. “Obviously, we’re hoping that pressure can be put on Congress to launch that other satellite.”

For now, Stroeve and her colleagues will continue cross-calibrating data, with the hopes that the one they’re using now will stay online until Congress approves funding for the next series of satellites.

]]>22930Temperatures up by 50 Degrees at North Polehttp://www.knom.org/wp/blog/2015/12/31/temperatures-rise-by-50-degrees-at-north-pole-ice-still-6-8-feet-thick/
Thu, 31 Dec 2015 19:09:41 +0000http://www.knom.org/wp/?p=20270A low pressure system is funneling warm air towards the Arctic, creating pools of meltwater at the North Pole.]]>http://www.knom.org/wp-audio/2015/12/2015-12-31-North%20Pole%20Melting.mp3

The North Pole is melting. Or so say many news outlets. But Walt Meier, a research scientist for NASA and a co-author of NOAA’s 2015 Arctic Report Card on Sea Ice, says that’s not quite accurate.

“I’ve seen stories on that, and they’re kind of misleading,” Meier said.

Meier explains that what’s actually happening is a strong low pressure over Iceland is funneling warm air up into the Arctic and towards the North Pole, resulting in air temperatures slightly above freezing.

While Meier does say that much of the media’s coverage about the melting at the North Pole is overblown, temperatures are generally much lower this time of year.

“You’re normally at -20, -30 degrees Celsius up at the North Pole at this time of year,” Meier explains, “so that’s a really anomalously warm weather system that’s moving through there.”

Although there aren’t records that show how often something like this has happened in the past, there are records that indicate a warming climate.

According to both NASA and NOAA scientists, 2014 was the warmest year since 1880, with 2015 on track to be even warmer. And while the rest of the world has warmed by an average of 1.4 degrees Fahrenheit, the Arctic has warmed at twice that rate.

Despite a history of rising temperatures and an anomaly of warm air funneling up from Iceland, Meier clarifies that the North Pole hasn’t turned to slush quite yet.

“When you have temperatures like that, you would have some surface melt, but you know, it’s still ice covered.”

Meier says there’s probably still 6 to 8 feet of ice at the pole.

The low pressure causing the spike in temperatures at the North Pole is the same weather system that recently led to blizzards in the southwest, tornados in Texas, and flooding in the Midwest.

The system is expected to move off the pole by next week, bringing temperatures back down to the normal -25 degrees Celsius.

]]>20270Russian Icebreaker Breaks Speed Record on Arctic Routehttp://www.knom.org/wp/blog/2015/12/31/russian-icebreaker-breaks-speed-record-on-arctic-route/
Thu, 31 Dec 2015 16:29:07 +0000http://www.knom.org/wp/?p=20265A Russian icebreaker just completed the fastest transit of the Northern Sea Route, and did so one month after the shipping season usually closes.]]>http://www.knom.org/wp-audio/2015/12/2015-12-31-Northern%20Sea%20Route%20pkg.mp3

A Russian icebreaker just completed the fastest transit of the Northern Sea Route. Along with setting the speed record, the icebreaker also completed the trip over a month after the shipping season usually ends in the Arctic.

The Northern Sea Route runs along Russia’s Arctic coast from the Barents Sea in the west to the Bering Strait in the east.

According to an article published by the Russian media outlet Port News, the Vaygach, a nuclear powered icebreaker, took just seven and a half days, or one hundred and eighty-five hours to be exact, to complete the trip.

It left from the Siberian side of the Bering Strait on December 17, covering over 2,200 nautical miles before reaching its destination in the White Sea on December 25.

Statistics from the past few years do show a handful of other transits taking less than eight days, so it’s not the speed that’s most impressive, but the time of year it took place.

According to statistics from the Northern Sea Route Information Office, the last three shipping seasons wrapped up in mid-November. The Vaygach started its trip in mid-December, completing the record-breaking journey on Christmas Day.

Walt Meier, a research scientist for NASA and co-author of NOAA’s 2015 Arctic Report Card on Sea Ice, says the successful transit is a sign of changing ice conditions in the Arctic.

“Doing it this late in the year is pretty unusual and is an indication that the ice is pretty thin,” Meier explains, adding, “they have confidence that they can get through without too much trouble.”

That confidence was showcased at an international Arctic forum in St. Petersburg in early December, where Russia’s deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin said the Northern Sea Route could soon be operational year round.

But despite the record transit and the proclaimed potential of the route, Andreas Østhagen, a senior fellow at the Arctic Institute, doesn’t think this is this start of an Arctic boom.

“I’m assuming that what they’re doing, and by ‘they,’ I mean the Russian authorities, is just highlighting the capabilities they have,” Østhagen said.

Those capabilities include the largest fleet of icebreakers in the world, with more than Norway, Canada, Denmark, and the U.S. combined. While Russia’s unmatched fleet allows them to offer more escorts and assistance along their Arctic coastline, it hasn’t exactly attracted more international traffic.

The number of vessels that traveled the full length of the route dropped from more than 70 in 2013 to less than 20 in 2015. The amount of cargo transported dropped even more dramatically: by about 97 percent in just two years.

So what can explain all this? Østhagen says, among other factors, the recent plunge in oil prices means the shorter route is just less attractive to international traffic.

“And then you have the incidents in Ukraine in 2014 naturally hampering the operational environment, maybe not directly, but at least indirectly,” Østhagen added. “The business climate for Russian collaboration in the Northern Sea Route was damaged to some extent.”

Despite persisting political tensions, there is one type of traffic that has been on the rise: destinational traffic, or “intra-transits,” as Østhagen describes them.

“When you look at the numbers for this year, I think it’s quite obvious that what is taking place in the northern sea route is intra-transits, so transits with a destination in the Northern Sea Route itself.”

Russia granted over seven-hundred permits for vessels traveling along the route, a number that has steadily risen over the past few years. The amount of cargo is also up, nearly doubling between 2013 and 2015.

So what’s next for the Northern Sea Route? While it’s hard to predict how the political climate may shift, NASA’s Meier said the changing climate in the Arctic is leading to thinner ice.

“And as the ice is thinner, it’s more easily blown by the winds as well, so it can more easily move away from the coast,” Meier explained.

With any luck — and the right winds — the Northern Sea Route will be back open for business in June.

]]>20265Stranded Bearded Seal Rescued from Nome Parking Lothttp://www.knom.org/wp/blog/2015/12/18/bearded-seal-stranded-in-nome-parking-lot/
http://www.knom.org/wp/blog/2015/12/18/bearded-seal-stranded-in-nome-parking-lot/#commentsFri, 18 Dec 2015 21:24:49 +0000http://www.knom.org/wp/?p=20112A bearded seal came ashore on Nome's west side of town, and its patchy coat may suggest a type of seal sickness.]]>http://www.knom.org/wp-audio/2015/12/1218%20Stranded%20Seal.mp3

The following is a developing story.

A Bearded Seal came ashore Thursday Night and made its way into a parking lot on Nome’s west side of town. Gay Sheffield was one of the first on the scene.

“We’re east of the harbor on Lomen right in front of the Crowley office building,” Sheffield explained, “and we have a young bearded seal that’s crawled out of the iced-over harbor and is in the parking lot.”

Sheffield works for the University of Alaska Fairbanks Alaska Sea Grant and is the local stranding responder. NOAA Fisheries created the National Marine Mammal Stranding Network to respond to incidents like this one. Local stranding responders like Sheffield are trained in stranding response, animal health, and disease.

Sheffield explained that this isn’t the first time a seal has made its way towards downtown Nome.

“Last year, we had a spotted seal that also got iced out of the harbor and was headed into town.”

But, often the stranded seals are on the smaller size. Kevin Keith explained that that wasn’t exactly the case with this one.

“It’s an ugruk, which are the bearded seals, which are quite large,” Keith said.

Keith is a fisheries biologist for Norton Sound Economic Development Corporation. Adult bearded seals average around 600 pounds, but this one was only a pup, which Keith estimates was 150 to 200 pounds.

While Sheffield is authorized to transport stranded marine mammals, due to this one’s size, she called for reinforcements.

Keith picked up a fish tote from the seafood plant.

“The fish tote is probably five feet by five feet, so we tipped the fish tote on its side, and Gay basically wrestled the seal into the fish tote,” Keith explained.

It took four people to lift the tote with the seal in it onto the bed of a truck. The seal was then transported to Nome’s Public Safety Building where it was kept overnight.

The seal was held overnight at Nome’s Public Safety Building. Photo: Mitch Borden/KNOM.

While much is still unknown about the health of the animal and the reason for its behavior, Sheffield said that the seal’s coat may hint at why it came ashore.

“What’s unusual is that he has symptoms of the seal sickness, where the seals have lost the ability to grow their coat,” Sheffield explained. “So this is why he’s looking so patchy.”

According to Sheffield, there are three different options for what to do next with the animal. The seal could be used for subsistence, released back into the wild, or sent down to the Alaska SeaLife Center in Seward, which handles marine mammal rehabilitation.

As of Friday evening, calls for an update on the seal were not returned.

]]>http://www.knom.org/wp/blog/2015/12/18/bearded-seal-stranded-in-nome-parking-lot/feed/520112As 35,000 Walrus Haulout Near Point Lay, Media Urged to Report From Afarhttp://www.knom.org/wp/blog/2015/09/11/as-35000-walrus-haulout-near-point-lay-media-urged-to-report-from-afar/
Sat, 12 Sep 2015 01:46:32 +0000http://www.knom.org/wp/?p=18368In what’s becoming an increasingly common sight, tens of thousands of walrus have hauled out on the coast of the Chukchi Sea near the Native Village of Point Lay.]]>http://www.knom.org/wp/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/0911-Walrus-Haulout.mp3

An estimated 35,000 Pacific walruses are currently crowding a barrier island just north of Point Lay, a phenomenon that has become more and more common. The region has also been overwhelmed by an influx of uninvited reporters, causing concern to scientists and community members.

The U.S. Geological Survey, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and the Native Village of Point Lay hosted a media teleconference last month to offer updates on the haulout and guidelines for the media. Tony Fischbach, a USGS wildlife biologist started off the call with an overview of the issue.

Fischbach said the large coastal haulouts forming on the U.S. shores of the Chukchi Sea are a new phenomenon “that has only been seen during years of complete loss of sea ice in the Chukchi Sea.”

The haulouts were first observed in 2007, coinciding with a record sea ice melt in the Arctic, as sea ice extent plummet to 39 percent below average. Female walruses and their young generally spend their summers on the sea ice, foraging in shallower areas for food. But as summer sea ice retreats, the walruses are forced to spend summers on shore.

The haulout are concerning both to scientists and those who rely on them for food, as any disturbance can lead to deadly stampedes. Last year an estimated 60 young walruses were killed due to the concentrated haulouts.

Wildlife biologist Jonathan Snyder with Fish and Wildlife Service commended the nearby village for providing a safe place for the animals to haul out.

“I think the fact that walrus continue to haul out near the community of Point Lay year after year is testament of the fact of the great stewardship role that that community has taken,” Snyder said, adding, “I’d imagine if that were not a safe place the walrus would not keep returning.”

Point Lay is doing its best to keep the walruses safe, but the village frustrated by the media that won’t keep their distance. In conjunction with Fish and Wildlife Service, USGS, and NOAA, the village of Point Lay issued a statement urging the media to keep their distance.

Leo Ferreira III, Tribal Council President of the Native Village of Point Lay said the village just under 250 does not have the capacity to house visitors. But, he says, the media isn’t listening. At least one person has disobeyed the villages’s multiple requests to keep their distance.

Gary Braasch, an environmental photographer, flew over the haulout on August 23. While he says he obeyed flight guidelines, a spokesperson for the Fish and Wildlife Service speaking to the Guardian newspaper, says his photos show walruses that appear to be agitated, fleeing the area.

Ferreira vented his frustration at the media.

“It’s very disturbing when you guys disrespect our way of living, disrespect our community and our wishes for the fact that you guys want a story,” Ferreira said. “You guys think you can come here and then go rent a boat… and go across and disturb the walruses on your guys’s own. That’s not permitted. Not even our own people are permitted to go over there and disturb the walruses with a mass haulout like this.”

The community is working with the Federal Aviation Administration to issue notices and guidelines to pilots in the region. Ferreira says resident hunters have also have been reduced or redirected away from the haulout.

With freeze-up not expected until mid-October, the walruses are hunkered down on shore and the community and scientists hope that disturbances are kept to a minimum.

]]>18368Arctic Shipping Updates Offered at USARC’s Final Day in Nomehttp://www.knom.org/wp/blog/2015/08/31/arctic-shipping-updates-offered-at-usarcs-final-day-in-nome/
Tue, 01 Sep 2015 00:45:39 +0000http://www.knom.org/wp/?p=18134Renewable energy and port development were the focus of the final session of the U.S. Arctic Research Commission’s two day meeting in downtown Nome.]]>

Renewable energy and port development were the focus of the final session of the U.S. Arctic Research Commission’s two day meeting in downtown Nome.

Lorraine Cordova, project manager for the Alaska Deep Draft Arctic Port Study, offered port updates to the crowd and research suggestions to the commission. She commended Nome’s Port Director Joy Baker and City Manager Josie Bahnke for their efforts in promoting Nome as the site of Alaska’s deep-draft port.

Although Port Clarence was in the running, its lack of infrastructure and Nome’s active sponsorship of the Alaska Deep Draft Arctic Port Study helped single out the city. The debate on whether Nome will commit to dredging to a deep-draft depth is ongoing.

Kody Stitz from the U.S. Coast Guard also updated the Commission on matters relating to Arctic shipping. Since 2010, the Coast Guard has been conducting a Port Access Route Study in the Bering Sea. The study will determine the need for routing measures through the region. Currently, there are no speed restrictions, north and southbound lanes, or areas to be avoided from Unimak Pass in the Aleutians up through the Bering Strait.

Along with lacking routing measures, the Bering Sea’s nautical charts are outdated, presenting serious safety risks to vessels of all kinds.

“A really good example is the Fennica,” Stitz offered, “the Fennica, just a couple months ago coming out of Dutch Harbor, struck something and in the aftermath of that NOAA went out, did a survey, and we ended up finding an uncharted rock.”

The Coast Guard is working alongside NOAA to chart the Bering Sea and expects to have that work completed by the end of the year. Stitz said that, along with implementing routing measures, up-to-date nautical charts will encourage safe shipping through the route.

“One of the goals with putting down a route,” Stitz explained, “is that NOAA can now look at a couple thousand square miles of the route area and really give us a really accurate assessment.” Knowing just what lies on the seafloor will incentivize staying within the route’s boundaries.

“The shippers have a really strong incentive and the insurance carriers have a really strong incentive to say, “You know what if you’re going from A to B you’re going to follow this route to the maximum extent possible.””

Stitz expects it will take at least year for the study’s findings to go through the Coast Guard, the State Department, and additional military branches for approval before finally approaching the International Maritime Organization, all of which Stitz says will take two to three years at best.

]]>18134Surveyors Perform ‘Check Up’ On Alaska’s Tallest Peakhttp://www.knom.org/wp/blog/2015/06/25/surveyors-perform-check-up-on-alaskas-tallest-peak/
Thu, 25 Jun 2015 19:25:49 +0000http://www.knom.org/wp/?p=17032A dispute over the height of North America’s tallest mountain may be resolved this week, as surveyors climb to the top of Mount McKinley.]]>http://www.knom.org/wp-audio/2015/06/2015-06-24-Denali-Height-PKG.mp3

A dispute over the height of North America’s tallest mountain may be resolved this week, as surveyors climb to the top of Mount McKinley.

McKinley, recognized throughout Alaska by its Koyukon Athabascan name: Denali, has long been thought to stand at 20,320 feet, a measurement recorded in 1953. That number was contested in 2013, when the United States Geological Survey (USGS) used radar technology to re-calculate the mountain’s height. The result was a mere 20,237 feet — 83 feet lower than the previously recognized elevation.

“People didn’t like the lower number,” said David Moune, Senior Project Manager with Dewberry Geospacial Products and Services – a company contracted by USGS to perform the 2013 survey. “And I was bothered by it myself. I mean I had people say, ‘It’s still over 20,000 feet, I hope?’ And I said, ‘Yes it’s still over 20,000 feet, but I don’t know how much over 20,000 feet.'”

Moune said the new elevation, in addition to being controversial, may not be entirely accurate. He explained the measurement was taken from the air using radar frequencies, to create 3D images as part of an ongoing mapping project around the state. While that technique is great for mapping complex terrain in 3D, Moune said its single-point elevation measurements could be off by several meters.

According to Moune, the most accurate way to measure height for a specific peak is to use GPS. But for that, you need old-fashioned boots on the ground.

“We’re up at 14,000 feet on Denali on the summit survey expedition,” Blain Horden reported by satellite phone Monday.

Horden is leading those boots — and a team of three surveyors — to the summit of Denali this week, as part of an expedition sponsored by USGS, NOAA’s National Geodetic Survey, and University of Alaska Fairbanks. Their mission: To set the record straight.

As of Monday night, Horden’s team had settled in at 14,000 feet, with plans to push for the summit as early as Wednesday. But Moune says the task of measuring a mountain isn’t an easy one.

“These guys are not just taking themselves to the top of the mountain. They are carrying a lot of equipment with them. That all adds to the complexity of the climb,” he said.

In addition to challenges faced by all high-altitude climbers, the surveyors will need to clear a few logistical hurdles. For example: finding the physical peak of Denali — rock that has long been buried under ice and snow.

This is an ambitious goal. No survey of the mountain has yet calculated elevation using its natural peak; all measurements have been taken from ice resting on top of Denali. Which could have contributed to some level of error in the past, according to Moune.

“People want to know how high is Denali. And perhaps the best we can do is tell them how high the ice and snow is in 2015 on the day that we surveyed it. Recognizing that the thickness of the ice and snow may change whenever it snows and rains up there. Or melts for that matter,” he said.

But even if Horden’s team also measures from the ice at Denali’s summit, Moune added, the data they gather will still provide an improved estimate of the mountain’s true height. The expedition could take as long as three weeks to complete, but surveyors are currently ahead of schedule — and could begin their descent by the end of this week.

And the height of the continent’s tallest mountain isn’t the only thing up for debate. The name of the famous Alaskan peak has long been a point of contention — both in, and out, of state.

Alaskans have filed several federal bills since 1975 to change the name from Mount McKinley — after former president William McKinley — to Denali, a traditional Koyukon Athabascan term meaning “high one” or “great one.”

That effort has been largely opposed by representatives from McKinley’s home state of Ohio, with Rep. Bob Gibbs filing a bill that would stop the U.S. Board of Geographic Names from changing the mountain’s title as recently as March.

Last month, Sen. Lisa Murkowski introduced yet another bill to name the mountain Denali in honor of the region’s Native heritage. It remains unclear whether either legislator will succeed in pushing their bill through the Senate or the House.

After proposing a huge area in western Alaska as “critical habitat” for ringed seals, NOAA Fisheries is planning to hold several meetings throughout the state to get input from the public.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration will host five public hearings in Alaska—one each in Nome, Anchorage, Kotzebue, Barrow, and Bethel—on the proposal to designate critical habitat for Arctic ringed seals under the Endangered Species Act.

NOAA listed ringed and bearded seals as threatened under the ESA in December 2012.

The proposed habitat covers roughly 350,000 square miles along the Bering Strait and the northern Bering, Chukchi, and Beaufort seas. A release from NOAA Fisheries describes the area’s sea ice conditions as essential for ringed seal pupping, nursing, basking, and molting, as well as vital for the animal’s food sources.

The “critical habitat” label would protect the region from actions and activity that could “destroy or adversely modify” the habitat. NOAA says the designation would not affect subsistence harvests of ringed seals by Alaska Natives.

The designation has already found critics—including Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski, who says the designation would lock up a “Texas-sized” area of water that could impact economic development in western Alaska all the way to Canada. Members of the oil and gas industry have also criticized the plan.

The deadline for public comment is Mar. 9.

NOAA Fisheries will meet in Nome on Wednesday, Jan. 28, from 4-7 p.m. at Old St. Joe’s Hall. The rest of the meetings are scheduled as follows: